How small can an animal get? This week is a petite story on the recent discovery of dwarf chameleons in Madagascar.

B. micra on a tip of a match. (c) 2012 PLoS One

Madagascar is home to ~43% of the world’s species of chameleons. Among these species, a group of chameleons, Brookesia minima, are miniature leaf chameleons. Researchers from Germany and California went hunting for these leaf chameleons at night, holding torches and headlamps, crouching and checking low branches on the ground for roosting chameleons. The survey lasted for 8 years, between 2000 and 2008. As a result, the research groups discovered four new species of chameleons belonging to Brookesia minima group. Their research article was published in PLoS One last month. Continue reading –>